The present invention relates to a production of a general substrate of relaxed Si1-xGex-on-insulator (SGOI) for various electronics or optoelectronics applications, and the production of monocrystalline III-V or II-VI material-on-insulator substrate.
Relaxed Si1-xGex-on-insulator (SGOI) is a very promising technology as it combines the benefits of two advanced technologies: the conventional SOI technology and the disruptive SiGe technology. The SOI configuration offers various advantages associated with the insulating substrate, namely reduced parasitic capacitances, improved isolation, reduced short-channel-effect, etc. High mobility strained-Si, strained-Si1-xGex or strained-Ge MOS devices can be made on SGOI substrates.
Other III-V optoelectronic devices can also be integrated into the SGOI substrate by matching the lattice constants of III-V materials and the relaxed Si1-xGex. For example a GaAs layer can be grown on Si1-xGex-on-insulator where x is equal or close to 1. SGOI may serve as an ultimate platform for high speed, low power electronic and optoelectronic applications.
SGOI has been fabricated by several methods in the prior art. In one method, the separation by implantation of oxygen (SIMOX) technology is used to produce SGOI. High dose oxygen implant was used to bury high concentrations of oxygen in a Si1-xGex layer, which was then converted into a buried oxide (BOX) layer upon annealing at high temperature (for example, 1350° C.). See, for example, Mizuno et al. IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 230-232, 2000 and Ishilawa et al. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 75, No. 7, pp. 983-985, 1999. One of the main drawbacks is the quality of the resulting Si1-xGex film and BOX. In addition, Ge segregation during high temperature anneal also limits the maximum Ge composition to a low value.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,461,243 and 5,759,898 describe a second method, in which a conventional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate was used as a compliant substrate. In the process, an initially strained Si1-xGex layer was deposited on a thin SOI substrate. Upon an anneal treatment, the strain was transferred to the thin silicon film underneath, resulting in relaxation of the top Si1-xGex film. The final structure is relaxed-SiGe/strained-Si/insulator, which is not an ideal SGOI structure. The silicon layer in the structure is unnecessary, and may complicate or undermine the performance of devices built on it. For example, it may form a parasitic back channel on this strained-Si, or may confine unwanted electrons due to the band gap offset between the strained-Si and SiGe layer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,906,951 and 6,059,895 describe the formation of a similar SGOI structure: strained-layer(s)/relaxed-SiGe/Si/insulator structure. The structure was produced by wafer bonding and etch back process using a P++ layer as an etch stop. The presence of the silicon layer in the above structure may be for the purpose of facilitating Si-insulator wafer bonding, but is unnecessary for ideal SGOI substrates. Again, the silicon layer may also complicate or undermine the performance of devices built on it. For example, it may form a parasitic back channel on this strained-Si, or may confine unwanted electrons due to the band gap offset between the strained-Si and SiGe layer. Moreover, the etch stop of P++ in the above structure is not practical when the first graded Si1-yGey layer described in the patents has a y value of larger than 0.2. Experiments from research shows Si1-yGey with y larger than 0.2 is a very good etch stop for both KOH and TMAH, as described in a published PCT application WO 99/53539. Therefore, the KOH will not be able to remove the first graded Si1-yGey layer and the second relaxed SiGe layer as described in the patents.
Other attempts include re-crystallization of an amorphous Si1-xGex layer deposited on the top of SOI (silicon-on-insulator) substrate, which is again not an ideal SGOI substrate and the silicon layer is unnecessary, and may complicate or undermine the performance of devices built on it. Note Yeo et al. IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 161-163, 2000. The relaxation of the resultant SiGe film and quality of the resulting structure are main concerns.
From the above, there is a need for a simple technique for relaxed SGOI substrate production, a need for a technique for production of high quality SGOI and other III-V material-on-insulator, and a need for a technique for wide range of material transfer.